James Gandolfini, Sopranos star, dies in Italy aged 5

James Gandolfini, Sopranos star, dies in Italy aged 51

Gandolfini was the son of a school dinner lady and a bricklayer

James Gandolfini, the US actor best known for his role as the mob boss in The Sopranos, has died at the age of 51, the HBO TV network has confirmed.

Gandolfini died of a possible heart attack while on holiday in Rome, the network told the BBC.

According to TMZ website, New Jersey-born Gandolfini went to Italy to attend a film festival in Sicily.

He won three Emmy awards for his role as Tony Soprano, a mafia boss juggling his criminal career and family life.

"It is with immense sorrow that we report our client James Gandolfini passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy," said his managers, Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders, in a statement on Wednesday night.

"Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply. He and his family were part of our family for many years and we are all grieving."

'A special man'

HBO also said the star of The Sopranos, which aired on the cable channel from 1999-2007, would be "deeply missed".

Gandolfini married his second wife, Deborah Lin, in 2008

"He was a special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect," said its statement.

"He touched so many of us over the years with his humour, his warmth and his humility."

Gandolfini was born in 1961 in Westwood, New Jersey, to a school dinner lady and a bricklayer, both of Italian background.

He worked as a bartender and a club manager before his acting career took off on Broadway in 1992.

His breakthrough role came a year later playing a mobster in the movie True Romance.

Gandolfini's more recent film credits included In The Loop, Zero Dark Thirty and Killing Them Softly.

He is survived by his second wife, Deborah Lin, a former model from Hawaii, whom he married in 2008, and his son, Michael, from his first marriage to Marcy Wudarski, his former personal assistant. They were wed in 1999 but separated three years later.

In a December 2012 interview with the Associated Press news agency, Gandolfini said he had become an actor to get rid of anger.

"I don't know what exactly I was angry about," he said.

"I try to avoid certain things and certain kinds of violence at this point," he added. "I'm getting older, too. I don't want to be beating people up as much."